Rep. Dave Torissi mocks voters, sides with illegal aliens

VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL

JUNE 2010

North Andover State Rep. David Torrisi has some nerve.

He was elected by American citizens in Lawrence and North Andover to represent their interests in the state legislature. When he took his oath of office he swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States … not Mexico, Ireland or The Dominican Republic.

By definition his job is to protect the interests of the people who pay his salary. But Torrisi (like so many others) sees it differently. He thinks his job is to represent illegal aliens… nationals of foreign countries who do no belong here.

And to prove it, last month he voted against the Perry Amendment, which would have denied government benefits to illegal aliens in Massachusetts. Benefits that Torrisithinks are more important than funding for the elderly, two closed fire stations in Lawrence, the laid-off police officers state-wide or the benefits Deval Patrick is cutting for mentally challenged children across the state.

Worst of all, in defense of his advocacy for illegal aliens, Torrisi purposely misrepresents his position as being “pro-immigrant” and uses the word “immigrants” interchangeably with “illegal aliens” to confuse the public about where he really stands.

He has said many times that those who oppose “illegal aliens” are de-facto “anti-immigrant”, bigoted and discriminatory.

We find that laughable.

Elected officials like Rep. Torrisi can say they are “pro-immigrant” all they want but what does “pro-immigrant” really mean?

The fact is, every American citizen is either an immigrant or a descendent of immigrants … those are the very people who oppose benefits for illegal aliens.

Those who are truly “pro-immigrant” are looking out for the interests of American citizens who are here legally and put their interests above all others. Those who are truly “anti-immigrant”, those who are really bigoted, those who so willingly discriminate are the David Torrisis’ of the world who side with illegal aliens over the very people (citizens) he has sworn to represent.

We find it disgraceful and Anti-American for any elected official to side with nationals of foreign governments over those very citizens who put them in office.

But we are not surprised that Rep. Torrisi is one of them. Torrisi has a long history of voting to give drivers licenses and in-state tuition to illegal aliens, and even opposed voter ID and residency requirements in Lawrence.

In a letter to a constituent (page 6), Torrisi mocks American citizens in North Andover who believe that “illegal” means illegal. He also purposely tries to mislead Latino Americans to believe that those who oppose benefits for illegal aliens are really targeting all Latinos based on race, and that HE is the white knight to save them against the evil, white, racists who want to drive them all out of this country because of their language or culture.

The fact is, Torrisi is spitting on every Latino (and every immigrant) who applied, waited in line, paid their fees and came to this country legally … only to have their jobs and government benefits given to those who laughed at their efforts and broke our laws to come here.

We at the Valley Patriot just want the voters in North Andover (American citizens by definition) to remember all this when Torrisi comes up for re-election and he asks American citizens to cast their votes for him … so he can once again, represent illegal aliens on Beacon Hill.

Tom Duggan is president and publisher of The Valley Patriot Newspaper in North Andover Massachusetts, a #1 Best Selling Author, Host of the Paying Attention Radio Program on WCAP in Lowell, lectures on media bias and police issues, is a former Lawrence School Committeeman, former political director for Mass. Citizens Alliance, and a 1990 Police Survivor.
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